Operators of vehicles (e.g., a motor or automotive vehicle) are often provided with information related to the operation and maintenance of such vehicles and the vehicle accessories. To meet this need, some vehicles include an owners manual in book form and a vehicle introduction or orientation tape suitable for being played on a video cassette recorder (VCR). Although the video cassette tape and book include useful information about the operation and maintenance of the vehicle and vehicle accessories, there are many disadvantages associated with this approach. For example, the book and video cassette tend to provide information generic to a vehicle model that is not tailored to address the particular equipment, accessories and/or options of a specific vehicle. This generic character of the book and tape can result in the user needlessly reviewing material unrelated to the equipment on the specific vehicle and unrelated to the users interest at the time. Furthermore, it is difficult and expensive for the vehicle manufacturer to provide updates to such books and tapes. Moreover, the book and video cassette are not interactive and such media does not provide real time data related to the present operation and condition of the vehicle. In addition, the video cassette and owners book often undesirably take up over half of the average glove box volume of a vehicle.
In view of the foregoing, it should be appreciated that it is desirable to provide inexpensive methods and apparatus for providing a modern replacement of the prior art owners books and video cassette orientation tapes. In particular it is desired to provide a graphical user interface (GUI) or display system for interacting with the user to display selected information related to the operation and maintenance of a vehicle including the vehicle accessories in a new, enjoyable, and meaningful way. It is also desirable for such a GUI to provide a teaching tool for vehicle sales people, drivers, potential customers and/or other vehicle users. Furthermore it is desirable for the apparatus and method to provide real-time data to the vehicle users. Furthermore it is desirable that such methods and apparatus utilize existing displays that can be readily reprogrammed as the need arises to decrease costs and provide flexibility. Additionally, it is desired to electronically provide information about the operation and maintenance of a vehicle and vehicle accessories that replaces the present-day owners manuals and video cassette tapes. Furthermore it is desired that such information be specific to the equipment of the specific vehicle and be easily updateable at locations other than the manufacturing facility. It is also desired that the owners manual information media minimize the storage of video cassette tapes and/or owners books in the vehicles to thereby free up the space therein for other uses. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent brief summary, detailed description, appended claims, and abstract, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.